Google AdWords has announced the introduction of the Broad Match Modifier which lets you create keywords with more control than broad match and a further reach than phrase match.  Designed to receive more clicks and conversions at a better ROI, the Broad match modifier is aimed at those people who mainly use Exact and Phrase matches.

It works by placing a “+” in front of the word within a keyword phrase, Google will then look for that exact word whilst including close variants including misspellings, singular/plural forms, abbreviations and acronyms, and stemmings (like “floor” and “flooring”). Synonyms (like “quick” and “fast”) and related searches (like “flowers” and “tulips”) aren’t considered close variants.

To fully explain it, Google has given us a graphic (below) which explains this.

Lets go into this further.

• Imagine you are advertising “House Insurance” with a broad match you will receive clicks for “Car Insurance”, “Pet Insurance” etc.
• Using the Broad Match Modifier “House +Insurance” you can get clicks for “Home Insurance”, “Content Insurance” etc.
• Then using the Broad Match Modifier “+House +Insurance” will how “Insurance for the House”, “Housing Insurance” and spelling mistakes such as “Housing Insrance”.

After this you would you the phrase match.

This has only rolled out in the UK at the moment and is so new that there has not been a lot of reviews yet. Personally I can see how this will allow a broader reach for AdWords advertisers, but I think most experienced people will take this slowly and test fully before rolling out to their whole AdWords account.